There wasn't much that went right for the Los Angeles Kings against the Ottawa Senators as they would blow a two-goal lead twice over the course of their game before losing 8-7 in overtime. One player in particular who was absent down the stretch was Alex Turcotte and it may have been due to a coach's decision.
In the first two games this season, Turcotte was on the ice for 8:00 and 9:03 but on Monday played only 6:40. This was over a minute less than the next player on the Kings in Andre Lee, who had 7:58 of ice time.
The reason that Turcotte's time on ice might have been a coaching decision was pointed out by Karo Blikian, who noted that his final shift was roughly at the 10:00 minute mark of the second period. The last play he had on the ice was him trying to clear the puck but it was stopped in the neutral zone.
#GoKingsGo Alex Turcotte had the lowest TOI of any LA player at 6:40. Looking at his shift chart, his night was basically over after this play. pic.twitter.com/arsu7xf1M3
— Karo Blikian (@KGBlix) October 14, 2024
The Senators quickly turned it into a goal with Zack MacEwen beating Darcy Kuemper to cut the lead to 3-2.
Did Alex Turcotte deserve to be benched by the Los Angeles Kings?
While the end result wasn't ideal and the Senators were able to captialize on the turnover, it is tough to see why this play would warrant Turcotte being held out the rest of the game. While it wasn't a great play, Turcotte did get it out of their own zone.
In addition, the goal really falls on Darcy Kuemper as this was a deep shot that is stopped a majority of the time. He had a clean look at the shot but Kuemper just seemed slow to react.
The Kings have had the same lineup for the first three games of the season but it seems likely that they will be making some changes for the game Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It wouldn't be surprising if Turcotte warranted or not, had the night off.